2013/12/03

Mariel Tavakoli: Cultural Observer

This weekend was jam packed with Czech culture and I truly felt
immersed in life here. Starting with Friday, I helped out with my
school’s “Open House” by teaching an optional English lesson for
students. A surprising number showed up and I tried to make it fun by
teaching about Thanksgiving. We learned some history, competed for who
could make the most words out of the letters of Thanksgiving themed
words, and made handprint turkeys on which we wrote what we were
thankful for. As teachers and prospective students cycled in and out I
was proud to be representing the school and making English fun for the
students (It might have helped that I gave them candy throughout the
lesson). At one point, one student asked me, “Don’t you mind being a
spectacle on display all the time?” Sometimes it feels strange to be
such a novelty in this small town and hold a mild celebrity status, but
overall I am appreciative of the friendliness and eagerness of the
people here to accept me into their lives.

Teacher in Action

On Friday night, I went to Brno, the next biggest city to Znojmo, for the 24th
birthday party of a Czech friend I met back in Brno during our first
Fulbright orientation. While the party was a casual gathering of
friends at a pub, it showed some slight differences between Czech and
American birthday celebrations:

In Czech, “Happy birthday” is Všechno nejlepší, or “all the best.”

It is typical of the birthday boy/girl to buy at least one round of shots for everyone at the party.

Midway through the evening, all the friends get in a line and
congratulate the birthday boy/girl one by one. Sometimes this also
involves presenting a small present.

If one of the presents is some form of alcohol, it is not wrong to
open the bottle and pass it around to all the attendees at the bar.

On Saturday, I returned to Znojmo for lunch with Hana and her family.
We had a traditional Czech lunch of soup, pork with potato dumplings and
cabbage, followed by coffee and a whipped cream pastry pie. After,
Hana and I went on a hike in Podyjí National Park to a lookout point
called Sealsfield Kamen. It was nice to go for a long walk after a big
meal and to shake off the gloomy weather. Even though Czech people
continue to be shocked by my interest in jogging and exercise, I am
impressed by their dedication to appreciating nature, despite gross
weather. In the winter, Czechs continue to hike and love to
cross-country ski.

Saturday night I took part in the grand finale of my cultural
weekend: Hody in the village of Hodonice. Hody is a celebration of the
different patron saint of each specific village in my particular region
in the Czech Republic. According to the Czech calendar, each saint is
celebrated on a different day, and so each village celebrates on a
different day and in a slightly different way. In addition, each
village has its own particular sound or “call” that they make throughout
the celebration. The first time I heard it, it sounded like a dying
animal. After hours and hours of hearing it being made by people of all
ages, it soon just became part of the party soundtrack. Point of the
story: I was able to see and take part in a really unique Czech
celebration.

One of my students, Blanca, invited me to the Hody celebration of St.
Martin in her village of Hodonice about 30 minutes outside of Znojmo.
St. Martin is technically celebrated on November 11th and
legend holds that he rides on a white horse into this region bringing
the snow with him. It is also typical on St. Martin’s day for Czech
people to eat goose. My Hody experience began with arriving at Blanca’s
house to find out they were slaughtering a pig. I then watched Blanca
put on the traditional Hodonice costume, or kroj. This costume is
very expensive and is only worn once a year for this particular
occasion. We then walked with three other students from that class to
the Hodonice community center for the celebration.

Hodonice Hody 2013

The party began with a traditional polka dance by all of the young people (from small children to teenagers) wearing the kroj.
I was amazed with how many teenagers were proudly wearing the costume
and how people of all ages were cheering them on. When transferring
this celebration to the United States I saw a lot of grumpy teenagers
feeling “lame” in their costumes and rolling their eyes at their parents
for showing up and embarrassing them. The closest comparison I could
draw was to the town spirit surrounding a high school football game.
Maybe the reason Czech towns are not united around athletics is because
they have deeper history and traditions to bond them. I like this
idea. The performance ended with the singing of a Czech song, which I
could only imagine was some form of village anthem.

All in Kroj

Midnight Passing of the Leader Torch

The party continued for hours and hours with a raffle and continuous
drinking, talking, music and dancing. There were two bands that
alternated playing: one with traditional polka music and the second, a
more contemporary trio. The contemporary band alternated between playing
Czech or Slovak dance songs and American ones like “Mamma Mia” and Katy
Perry. I had so much fun dancing with my students and learning how to
dance polka with several different dance partners. The dancing was
interrupted with a midnight performance by the kroj wearers where
the lead couple passed the title to the couple for the next year. Even
though my little group left around 2 am, the party apparently continued
until around 4:30 am! When I left, small children and older people were
still there. It would not surprise me if they were there until the end
as well.

Sunday morning I was able to try out some more village Czech culture. I was dressed like a Barbie doll in the kroj,
which features 3 skirts, and is actually quite heavy.

Dress-up Time: Skirt #1

How do I look?

I also was
offered to try some traditional Czech food. I did this without
questions, which might have been a mistake. Breakfast consisted of
homemade bread with butter and tomatoes—I couldn’t bring myself to do
this combination, but everyone else did. Shortly after, I was offered
to sample some lunch options. The first item was a fat gray sausage
with the consistency of flan. I could see vegetables and some meat in
it, so I gave it a try. It tasted alright, but it turned out to be made
of pig’s skin, which still makes me want to die every time I think
about it. Some pork schnitzel, or řízek, and homemade pickles
were much better. Although, I can only imagine all of these pig items
came from the slaughtering the night before…

Overall, it was an incredibly unique experience and I felt so lucky
to be invited to take part. Even many Czech people have told me they
have never experienced a Hody celebration. It was hard to me to express
to Blanca how special her invitation was to me. I look forward to many
more rich cultural experiences this year!